Research on three L2 writing conditions: Students’ perceptions and use of background languages when writing in English

Abstract

This paper gives an account of Norwegian upper secondary school students’ self-reported use of linguistic resources while composing a text in English (L2) under three different writing conditions, i.e. English-only, translation, and translanguaging. After writing a text in English, 200 students answered a questionnaire about their use of background languages as well as their perceptions of the assigned writing condition. A combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to the analysis of the questionnaire data was employed to capture how the students use their background languages and what they consider to be relative advantages and disadvantages of the assigned writing condition. The results indicate: (i) a strong presence of English as a metacognitive language of choice in all three writing conditions, (ii) students’ strategic use of L1 to generate ideas and structure information, and (iii) students’ willingness to experiment with languages to enhance certain aspects of their writing. By integrating translation and translanguaging into the drafting stage of writing in a target language, the present study contributes to the empirical research that embraces bi- and multilingual approach to English writing instruction in modern language classrooms as they become more linguistically and culturally diverse.

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